Various kinds of sunroof apparatuses are disclosed in patent documents, such as JP03169740A and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,619,732 and 6,568,750.
According to the sunroof disclosed in JP03169740A, a shoe to which drive is transmitted from a drive member is provided at only the front portion of a functional bracket, and a long-shaped check block is provided at the rear portion of the functional bracket. In this configuration, each component has not been positioned flexibly because such long check block occupies a large area of a guide rail. Further, such long check block may cause unevenness of dimensional accuracy and flexure due to load. Furthermore, resistance of the check block relative to the guide rail may be increased. As a result, transmission efficiency may be decreased, and accuracy of movement control may be diminished.
Specifically, in this configuration, the functional bracket is provided between the check block, and the drive member and the shoe. Thus, a cross section area of the guide rail is enhanced. As a result, slide resistance of the check block has been obliged to be increased. In addition, the check block, the drive member and the shoe are not aligned relative to the functional bracket in a longitudinal direction thereof, and thus the moving amount of the functional bracket is limited so as to avoid interference therebetween. Furthermore, more space is needed for the guide rail whose cross section area is enhanced.
According to the sunroof disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,619,732 and 6,565,750, a guide rail is provided outside the vehicle in order to open a movable panel more widely. Such configuration may complicate the structure of the sunroof. As a result, the number of the components and the cost may be increased.
Thus, a need exists for the sunroof apparatus to open a movable panel more widely without complicating the structure of the sunroof apparatus.